Historical Organization
Fourth International
Fourth International
Details
Organization Timeline
Trotsky’s supporters found the Fourth International
📅 3 September 1938Delegates founded a new international organization, arguing that the Comintern had ceased to lead revolutionary opposition to fascism and imperialism. The initiative expressed Trotsky’s...
The Fourth International adopts Trotsky’s Transitional Program
đź“… 3 September 1938The founding conference adopted a program of transitional demands intended to connect immediate struggles with socialist transformation. It addressed workers, peasants, women, youth, and colonized...
Trotsky debates the defense of the USSR as war begins
đź“… 1 September 1939As war began in Europe, Trotsky defended the Soviet Union against imperialist attack while criticizing its bureaucracy and the invasion of Finland. His position exposed a tension between defending a...
Trotsky debates the class character of the Soviet state
📅 25 September 1939In exchanges with members of the US Socialist Workers Party, Trotsky defended the analysis of the USSR as a degenerated workers’ state and argued that bureaucracy had not transformed its...
Trotsky writes on Stalin’s campaign to kill him
đź“… 1 June 1940After the May raid, Trotsky publicly argued that Soviet state agents were organizing his assassination. The essay was both a warning and a political intervention written under immediate threat....
Leon Trotsky is attacked in Mexico City
📅 20 August 1940An agent linked to Soviet security killed Trotsky, who died the next day. The assassination removed Stalin’s most prominent revolutionary rival abroad and extended Soviet political violence beyond its...